Award winning artist, author, and historian Robert McGreevy is a regular contributor of The Lakeshore Guardian. McGreevy’s work is a unique combination of original research and artwork that brings to life many of the untold stories of our maritime heritage. Rather than write about or paint ships that are well known, he tries to find new material by doing only original research and making use of information provided by the finding of new shipwrecks.

McGreevy is fascinated by the interplay between contemporary accounts of a ship’s loss, and the actual facts uncovered when the wreck is found. He is currently engaged in a project for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society at Whitefish Point, a series of illustrations depicting the extremely deepwater shipwrecks found in Lake Superior in recent years. Because in most cases there were no survivors, he will rely on evidence found on the wrecks themselves to tell the circumstances that led to the sinking.

On a personal note, McGreevy has devoted the last several years in a study of the greatest mystery in Great Lakes history, the loss and disappearance of the 1679 French vessel LeGriffon. He has created period-correct original artwork that helps to visualize what the brief 45-day existence of this mysterious vessel must have looked like. This new information has been put together as an illustrated presentation and also part of the third printing of McGreevy’s book Lost Legends of the Lakes, along with updated findings on many of the other ships covered in the expanded new edition.

For more information about McGreevy’s artwork and projects, go to www.mcgreevy.com, or visit his gallery in Harbor Beach.